There is an imperative need to link academia, industry and research with

higher education
14 Nov 2015
By IER Staff
0 Comments

There is an imperative need to

linkacademia, industry and research with the higher education institutes to upgrade the
quality of Indian higher education and become competitive in the world market,
said Professor Arvind Panagaria, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog at the 11th edition of Higher
Education Summit 2015, organized by FICCI in association with the Ministry of Human
Resource Development, Government of India.
Professor Panagaria said that the industry could partner with the universities in two ways. If
the universities have dedicated research faculty then the industry could reach out to the
educational institute for providing intellectual support. Also, industry could send their
employees to the university to train them upgrade their skills.
He said that quality of education has emerged as one of the biggest challenges in the sector.
In 2015, only two higher education institutes have featured in the top 200 list of world
institutes. There was a need to have more institutes in the world ranking and for that
research needs to be given an impetus. So far, educational institutes have primarily focused
in teaching and separate councils took charge of research but this model has not been very
successful. The research faculty should be present in the university to allow students to
attain knowledge of new innovations and technology and it would also help in upgrading the
curriculum with the needs of the changing times.
Professor Panagaria said that there was a need to consider the compensation of the teachers
as well which is discouraging them to take up jobs. Also, the move of the government to
expand the IITs and IIMs was a step in the right direction as these institutes are known for
providing high quality education in an autonomous set up.

He urged FICCI to collate the best practices of the states in the field of higher education and
prepare a document, which could be used as a reference by higher education institutes
across the country.
On the occasion, the dignitaries released FICCI-EY Report 2015; FICCI-EFMD Report 2015;
and FICCI-British Council Report 2015.
Highlighting the initiatives of the government, Vinay Sheel Oberoi, Secretary-HE, MHRD, said
that the National Institutional Ranking Framework, an indigenous ranking system for Indian
institutes was being formulated and would come into effect from April 2016. Also, the
government has launched an India specific-MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) platform,
SWAYAM to encourage self-learning and making higher education easily accessible via
electronic medium.
Oberoi said that the National Scholarship Portal has been launched to bring transparency,
accessibility and availability of scholarship to deserving students. Besides, a loan portal with
a single window has come up for students seeking education loan. The government is
working towards integrating the two platforms for encouraging students to continue their
higher studies. He added that the National Digital Library currently was being developed by
IIT Kharagpur and by the end of December two million books, journals and PhD research
papers would be available free of cost to all Indians.
Dr. Jyotsna Suri, President, FICCI, said that higher education and research will play a
significant role in the regional trade and policy integration provided there is a change in
approach which some of the Asian countries like Korea, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and
China have done. Countries like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, continue to grapple
with over regulation of the sector leading to the mushrooming of poor quality public and
private institutions. There is a huge graduate unemployment. It is therefore imperative for
Asia to build a new narrative for higher education, leverage private sector participation and
enhance student/faculty cross mobility.
Mohandas Pai, Chairman, FICCI Higher Education Committee, said that the workplace of
tomorrow would be technology-driven, making many of the existing jobs redundant. Hence,
there was a need to change and reform the higher education system to allow the younger
generation to access better opportunities. He added educational institutes needed
autonomy in academics, financials and administration to drive their vision and mission.
There was a need to also invest in research.
Pai said that real action for development lies at the state-level. Inclusive economic and social
development of states across all parameters will only take our country to the desired level of
economic development. The states account for 99% of total HE institutions, 97% of
enrolments and 67% of overall public spend. It is, therefore, our endeavor to translate this
vision into reality and, thus, move the focus of execution from the national level to the state

level. This endeavor aligns well with Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyaan (RUSA), which
focuses on developing a State Higher Education Plan (SHEP) an overarching plan/roadmap
to strengthen the state higher education system.
Professor Rajan Saxena, Co-Chair FICCI Higher Education Committee,said that there was a
need for implementation of policies and best practices for the higher education sector to
grow at a rapid pace. Also expansion of higher education at the levels of Central and States
governments and private sector was needed. He added that there was need to create a
dialogue amongst the stakeholders like academia, policy makers, government and society.
Also, higher education institutes need autonomy to generate ideas and implement them.

Teachers (57%) believe that students are not adequately prepared for employment

Collective call by teachers (75%) for industry collaborated curriculum restructuring

Urge for industrial training of teachers (44%) to impact employability of Indian

students

Majority (66%) support technology adoption across levels; school teachers,

specifically, consider installation of smart boards (77%) and bundled multimedia content
(51%) key initiatives

High costs (38%) and lack of infrastructure and maintenance (23%) seen as
foremost challenges for technology adoption at educational institutions

On the occasion of Teachers Day, the teaching community has collectively voiced their
opinion on the employability quotient of the Indian students and gave critical
recommendations for the formulation of New Education Policy to enable Education for
Employment, through the Pearson Voice of Teacher Survey 2015. This is the 3rd edition of
the annual survey.
The survey carries significant insights and possible solutions from teachers that can aid the
Governments deliberations on themes such as Employability, Industry collaborations and
integration of ICT in the framework for the New Education Policy.
With teachers considering 57% of the Indian students to be educated but not adequately
prepared for employment, the survey respondents strongly called for increased industry
academia collaboration, particularly for course restructuring (75%), to help boost
employability. Interestingly, the teaching community (44%) expressed the need for industry
training of teachers in addition to merit-based industry internships (48%) for
students.
Teachers perspective at State level:
Percentage of students that lack the skills adequate for employment

Highest: Haryana 67%

Lowest: Uttar Pradesh 49%

Current Assessment framework provides specific action items to teachers & parents

Highest agreement from Karnataka (61%)

Lowest agreement from NCT of Delhi (32%)

High cost is a challenge in technology adoption

Highest agreement from Gujarat (46%)

Lowest agreement from NCT of Delhi (25%)

Our education system is providing holistic education to students

Teachers in Karnataka (69%) agree the most

Teachers in NCT of Delhi (45%) agree the least

Announcing the survey, Deepak Mehrotra, Managing Director, Pearson India, said, Being the
worlds largest learning organization, Pearson has taken an initiative to engage with the
teachers to bring-out the topical issues facing Indian education sector and suggest measures
to transform the learning landscape in the country. We are glad that the platform is gaining
relevance among the teaching community and this is evident from the growing participation
of teachers every year.
Indian Government has shown intent to build greater industry-academia partnership by
proposing a consultative theme in the National Education Policy framework. We are glad that
the teachers have not only collectively validated this idea of industry-academia collaboration
but offered a specific solution of curriculum restructuring.
52% of the respondents believe that Indias Education Assessment Framework lacks specific
action points for teachers and parents to enable holistic education. Dissatisfaction with the
assessment system in India is much higher at Higher Education level (60%) than School
level (43%).
Assessments play an important role in giving teachers and parents the right benchmarks to
follow for personalized learning and better learning outcomes of students. In the New
education policy, teachers expect a more robust assessment framework. added Mehrotra
For integration of ICT in the education system, teachers across India recommend provision of
computer and internet connectivity across institutions (66%) and installation of smart boards
(62%) as key requirements. However, teachers consider high cost of technology installation
(38%) and lack of infrastructure & maintenance (23%) as the biggest challenges for
technology adoption at educational institutions.
It is great to see widespread acceptance for technology adoption as well digital education
tools across the learning curve. Going by the survey findings, there may be a case for the
government to consider introducing technology subsidization schemes for educational
institutes, commented Mehrotra.
However the silver lining of the findings showed in teachers belief (60%) that Indias
education system is providing comprehensive and holistic education (subject knowledge
along with social, creative, physical and ethical) to learners. However, teachers at highereducation level are less convinced with the existing systems ability to provide holistic
education (51%) vis--vis counterparts at school level (72%).
To facilitate transition from subject-based learning to holistic learning, teachers across
India ranked appropriate continuous assessments of students performance (47%), better
integration of technology & digital content into teaching methodology (44%) and linkage
between concepts across subjects/discipline (43%) as the most effective ways.

Released on the occasion of Teachers Day, Pearson Voice of Teacher Survey is an annual
initiative of Pearson, the worlds leading learning company. The survey focuses on key
challenges facing the Education sector in India and shares teachers' perspective on the
changing dynamics of the ecosystem.
The survey, fielded in July 2015 - August 2015 represents the views of 5,387 teachers from
schools and higher education institutes across 527 cities and towns in India. One of the
leading strategic market intelligence consultancies in Asia Pacific region - Spire Research
and Consulting partnered with Pearson for the survey.